8 November 2011

  1. "Sejong's Accession and Early Reign"
    1. According to the author, were the common people of Korea 'unaware' of the greatness of Sejong?
      1. yes, unaware
    2. What is Sejong's relationship to Yi Songgye (the first king of the Yi Dynasty)?
      1. Yi: founder of Chosun, Sejong: son of Yi's third son.
    3. Why was Prince Ch'ungnyong (Sejong) chosen over his elder brother to become king of Choson? Why might it be concluded that his succession to take the crown is evidence of his father's cleverness?
      1. Yang Yong almost became king after TaeJong, but he gave the spot to Sejong. Taejong abdicated.
    4. What was King T'aejong seeking as a legacy he would leave in Korea?
      1. ?
    5. What institution did Sejong reinvigorate and what role did it play in Korean history? How is this institution reminiscent of what was happening in Europe at the same time (Renaissance)?
      1. Sejong created the hall of wise to share intelligence. Same system in Europe: Salon.
    6. Provide an example of how Sejong demonstrated that his court was a place of debate and discussion and not one of 'top down' autocratic rule.
      1. Sejong didn't accept opinions, and he was careful for making decisions.
  2. "Sejong's Cultural and Scientific Projects"
    1. Provide evidence of how Sejong sought to chronicle history of various government administrations in Korea. Discuss the complexity and significance of the document he had set up in terms of Korean history. What other dynasty had Sejong sought to record in the annals of history?
      1. 조선왕족실록, Sejong brought all the Josun kings and queens. Sejong tried to record 고려 as well.
    2. Provide two reasons for the development of and information accrued from the surveying of agricultural conditions in Korea.
      1. enhance taxation system, improve peasant life.
    3. What is the significance of the origin of Tong' ui pogam (1610)?
      1. 동의보감= most basic book of medicine.
    4. Describe one of the observational instruments created under Sejong's reign.
      1. water clock 해시계, foundation for other research.
    5. Under the early Choson Dynasty what printing addition was created?
      1. metal movable typing 금속활자.
    6. Could we say that Sejong was essentially following the 'scientific method'? Explain.
      1. yes, surveys require scientific method.
  3. ''A Political Problem in Mid-Reign"
    1. What was the role of the 'royal tutors' in court politics? How was this different from the Chinese court? What, in your opinion, is the legacy of this in Korean politics to this day? (your opinion counts)
      1. royal tutors = essential checks/balance system, power over king (like veto). Chinese court = different since you must follow Chinese king. similar to modern governments, to ensure equality in power.
    2. Why might this be seen as an example of Korean factionalism (붕당)? (Related to the question above)
      1. People are interested in different areas so they pursue their goals and make factions.
    3. Look up the meaning of the word 'filibuster', how might this have been used to change to course of a king's decision in Sejong's court?
      1. Filibuster: act in obstructive manner (talking too long) - so to push the decisions later.
    4. Sejong's decision to allow the crown prince (his son) to administer lesser affairs of state in his father's interest caused considerable stir amongst the government bureaucrats. Why was this so? Explain.
      1. Korea was Confucianist, "neither two sons in the sky, neither two kings in the kingdom". Feared unstability if there were two kings. the boy was too young...
    5. Why might Sejong's allocating responsibility for the research on his alphabet project to the Office of Deliberation (Uisa ch'ong) had been misguided?
      1. 의사청. instability, because Sejong supported Office of Deliberation a lot...
  4. "The Invention of the Alphabet"
    1. What were some of the reasons for Sejong to seek a uniquely Korean alphabet? (Provide at least two different examples)
      1. Sejong wanted to transcribe songs and make the people in general to be literate.
    2. How is Korean different than Japanese? Why might it be easier for a Korean to pronounce Japanese words than for a Japanese to pronounce Korean words?
      1. Japanese characters are based on Korean characters... no 받침 in Japanese.
    3. What is the significance of Samgang haensil to to the creation of Hangul?
      1. 삼강행실부 ... wanted to be the moral standard of Korea, so making Hangul would allow others to read it.

5. "The Invention of the Alphabet II"
1. Provide the reasons why Ch'oe Malli and other scholar bureaucrats of his ilk rejected the implementation of Hangul.
Ch'oe Malli was an elitist. Malli and his ilk rejected the implementation of Hangul because they wanted to keep Chinese in Korea, so that only a certain degree of people could be literate. Also, they didn't want to have social hierarchy change, because if there were a lot of literate people, people who are in higher social status would increase. Therefore Sejong was accused as acting precipitously.

2. How is it that the shapes of Korean consonants and vowels are so scientific?
Korean consonants and vowels are so scientific because the shapes were classified accordingly by Chinese phonologists, velars, (ㄱ,ㅋ), dentals (ㄴ,ㄷ,ㅌ), labials (ㅁ,ㅂ,ㅍ), alveolars (ㅅ,ㅈ,ㅊ), and laryngeal (ㅎ,ㅇ). The letters were made and divided based on the shapes of the mouth, which is unlike other languages.For vowels, they were able to be incorporated to form a three-part scheme, and the language itself was written in syllabic blocks instead of sequentially in a line, like the East Asian habit such as expressed in Chinese.

3. What changes if any have occurred to Hangul since its inception? Are these major? Explain.
Phonetic evolution happened, which changed three of the original consonants and one of the vowels. The shapes changed a little more streamline from geometric but the alphabet itself wasn't modified by a big degree. (not major)

4. What two groups utilized Hangul during its infancy? Why were they attracted to it? Relate this to Christian experiences in Korean history.
Buddhists and women utilized Hangul during its infancy. Buddhists were attracted to it since Hangul was beneficial for producing popular translations of religious texts. Women were attracted to it by the possibility of informal writing and sharing, respectively. To connect with Christians, it is similar in a way since Christianity was embraced by those who liked it as well.



8 November 2011
Hendrik Hamel's Journal APPARTS




1 November 2011
Jong Myo
colin_10f_asian_jongmyo_korean_comic.jpg
citation:
i have it but it's not uploading...what the heck~






19 October 2011
Sejong Sillok Hangul APPARTS